Reviews by calpolyclimber (8)

Review

This is a very comfy shoe. It is unlined, so it stretches... A LOT... Mine started to delam after about 3.5 months of climbing hard. This corresponded with when they needed a resole, so I decided to retire them instead of putting more money into a shoe that was pretty cheap to begin with, and seemed to be on a downward spiral.

As far as performance is concerned, they worked pretty well for me. They seemed to be best at smearing and cracks, and not quite so good at edging. I would say they are a decent shoe for someone who wont be logging a whole lot of mileage on them, but they weren't the shoe for me.

Review

I love these hexes. I have not tried any other brands, but I have no complaints whatsoever about these. I am a passive gear guy for the most part (even though I have a full range of cams), so I usually place 2 or 3 of these hexes every climb. So far I have not climbed one crack without placing a Metolius Curved Hex. Some say that wired hexes are hard to place in cammping mode, but I disagree. I find it very easy and fast. I can place these faster than I can place a cam.

Review

These are pretty much the same thing as the older Tech Friends from Wild Country. This means they are solid gear, and are well made. The only drawback I have found (I have #'s .5, 1.5 and 2.5) is that they lack cam stops. This isn't a huge big deal, just be careful as always.